As the players and staff hit the training track on Tuesday, a few of them let me know that it was a big session coming up. They weren’t wrong.
Given that there were only around a dozen players out on the field, with others in the gym, the individual load was heavy.
As noted yesterday, a number of experienced players were due back today (Wednesday), and photos posted by Eels media confirmed the likes of Luca Moretti and Kelma Tuilagi will be amongst that group.
As for the drills themselves, they seemed to come in rapid fire, with the players moved around the various stations set up across two fields. Not only was it rapid fire, it was also seamless in transition, and if I had allowed myself to become distracted for a few minutes, I reckon I might have missed an entire drill.
After the warm ups and a basic passing drill, Nathan Brown led the ball players and support runners through an interesting sequence of skills development.
Firstly, he had the ball players running at defender mannequins and deciding whether they would throw the pass to a runner hitting the inside shoulder or the outside shoulder.
Jezaiah Funa-Iuta
From there the focus looked to change to the ball player digging deeper and engaging the defenders, and technically how to better execute it. I was listening as best I could for the pearls of wisdom, and from what I could pick up Brown was explaining how particular choices might make defenders look in a certain direction and how some spots might be difficult for opponents to see and defend.
There was more physicality in the following drill which required some of the coaching staff to pick up bump pads. Each of the dummy halves led a sequence of play the balls, getting the receiver onto the front for the hit up with the goal of winning the collision.
Let’s just say that there were more than a couple of times when I was glad that I wasn’t holding the bump pad with Sam Tuivaiti running at me like he did at a certain staff member. Sam had such an impressive rookie year. If he follows that up with aggression and confidence, he could be primed for a massive season.
Overall, during this drill I was impressed with the speed of the play, the accuracy of the passes, and the overall sharpness of the group. I had to remind myself of the age of most of this group.
Simultaneously, Scott Wisemantel took a few outside backs and worked on attacking kicks, which meant supporting kicks with a chase, or adding a kick to their repertoire. Basically, for the outside backs it involved kicking to them and kicking by them.
Outside backs Araz Nanva and Moe Alameddine
At this point, the pace of the session went up a notch. There were attacking/defending drills featuring six on three, then snappy three on two stuff. No time for standing around with hands on hips.
It looked as if they wanted to introduce fatigue as the squad completed sets of straight line running between the drills.
No prizes for guessing that Ryley Smith was never headed in any run, with notable efforts from Lachie Coinakis, Mo Alameddine and Teancum Brown.
During this time Joash Papalii and Tallyn Da Silva were working with Lorenzo Talataina on dummy half passing. Lorenzo was linking them, not throwing dummy half passes. And if you’re concerned about Joash practising that skill, I reckon it doesn’t hurt for anyone with a hint of utility value, and especially halves, to be able to snap passes off the ground.
The opposed drills continued one after the other, 6 vs 5, 4 vs 6, then 5 on 5. There were drills to advantage the attackers, then the defenders and even the introduction of defenders hitting the ground. Some of the play was unstructured, whilst at other times it looked to be standard shapes around the ruck.
A bit more skills work and straight line running finished the major part of the session and I departed with the team moving into extras.
There’ll be no field session on Wednesday so my next report should land on Thursday evening.
Eels forever!
Sixties
Brilliant sixties. Thanks
Very interesting Sixties and another quality read
With the amount of young players who started last season and those who played some NRL in 24, we hope to see further improvement and continued NRL hardened players which of course comes over time.
I’m thoroughly impressed with the way our Flegg and more have been promoted.
Good to see the media are mentioning that we are keen on the south’s middle. Parra make headlines…
I just hope it’s not for the money he’s asking. Keaon is a good solid player, but he is nothing special.
Mick, it’s always the way isn’t it? The market determines the prices but the club has to spend with the bigger picture in mind. I’ve actually been critical of the club not pulling the trigger on some bigger purchases in the past. What do you recon KK is worth?
Interesting if the club is competing with Canberra, who appear to have a better roster and are out of Sydney where KK is settled. As a club we don’t seem to win these competitive situations for players very often, if it’s for 2027 , both Matto and Junior should likely be off the books .
I’m interested in the comment that next will be Junior’s last season; he maybe faded a bit in the second half against NZ but that was against close to the toughest pack that could be assembled on the planet and before that his form has been outstanding; I’d certainly be assessing his interest for 2027.
2027 is shaping as a key year
Sixties, he’s worth what clubs are willing to pay him; but if I was MON I’d be offering less than Jr’s wage with KPA etc.
To me he isn’t worth $900+ at this point in time. I’d back the club to either get a kid cheaper on the fringe or wait
There are promising pathways players. Maybe it’s also looking ahead at who will still be at the club to play alongside and guide the young ones
When he moved to the middle last year for 11 games Keaon was averaging 189m and 37 tackles per game. For comparison Haas averages 166m and 35 tackles per game but does so in less minutes. Haas looks to average about 60 minutes per game whilst Keaon was averaging around 70 once in the middle.
He’s a lot better than just a solid player, if he continues that level of involvement he’ll be on of the best props in the game.
Terrific stats Ham, thanks for that.
Thanks Noel
Milo, some of the younger pathways boys will be hitting their straps in 27. Getting that balance of key recruitment and getting the development right could put Parra on the verge of being regular finalists by 2027
Agreed – hence why I wouldn’t be paying too $$ coin for him now. Got to know when to hold em….
Thanks Sixties. Interesting as always. Good to read Sam T hitting the bags hard. I have high hopes for him to keep developing this season. His first season showed, I believe, that at worst he’s going to be a solid first grader. Bit I reckon there is something there that could make him a lot better. Hope I’m right and get to see it.
You mentioned some straight line running here and there. Can’t remember reading as much about that last preseason. Would that be right or is age starting to fog my memory?
Big Sam can be v good for us; just needs time as he had the size and can continue to learn off Jr as well as Jnr.
If the club is sniffing around Keaon maybe they feel Jnr could pull up stumps next yr.
That’s my concern Milo
You’d be right at this stage Namrebo.
Hey Sixties, wondering if you know the contract status of Jake Tago? Reports of a contract extension back in 2024 but was never anything official. NRL website has him listed as a 2025 dev player with nothing beyond that – is he still with the club?
Alex, I haven’t seen him as yet this preseason, but I don’t recall him being on the departing players list at the end of the season. I’ll see what I can dig up.